Sir Terry Leahy and his fellow Tesco directors are to decamp to Hollywood for a board meeting in a show of support for the retailer’s embryonic assault on the US grocery market. Daily Telegraph

The Tesco board is expected to get together in California next year, following the opening of its first stores there, under the banner of Fresh & Easy, in November.

Tesco has amassed more selling space outside the UK than in it in recent years, and figures suggest that it may soon have a greater total number of stores in its international business than in its home market.

The retailer has almost 2,000 shops in Britain and about 1,300 overseas, from Hungary and Poland to Japan and South Korea.

If its US debut is successful, it plans to open 250 American stores in its first year, adding to about 450 elsewhere outside the UK in the next 12 months. In the same period, about 140 Tesco shops will open in Britain.